5B; Balancing Act

  "Make use of time, let not advantage slip."

William Shakespeare

  As mentioned by a lot of students here, especially freshman, these four weeks we have completed have flown by to say the least. Reflecting back, not only have the weeks flown by, but the days are gone in the speed of light. College is all about time management, the way in which we use our time is crucial to how well we succeed and also crucial to the efficiency of gaining our education. After carrying out the Time Study activity for one week, detailing each hour we spent, I quickly appreciated how much time we really do have.

                It is always suggested that in order to make the most of our learning experience in college, we are to complete forty hours a week on reading, homework, studying, and thinking about the material. Seeing as school has always come first for me, I was definitely shocked to see my total hours spent on school work was about twenty-two hours, half of what is expected. However, I do feel like I am completing all of the work given to me to my fullest potential so it could be that last week was an abnormal week in terms of how much school work was assigned. I am sure once midterms come around along with the end of the semester, I will reach the forty hours as expected. Furthermore, I can admit that I should start paying closer attention to my reading assignments in that it will not only enhance lectures, but also can develop my reading skills and therefore make me a stronger reader. Analyzing my schedule, I had over seventy hours devoted to sleep which took me a little by surprise. I am glad to see that I am getting a more than a sufficient amount of sleep, but sometimes too much sleep is not good either. To tweak this, I will start setting alarms for myself, about an hour earlier so that I can prepare for class, workout, or do a little more homework.

Socializing is one of the biggest distractions for me here at college. There are always fun events going on throughout campus, and I feel as if my friends are always going out to have fun. From the Time Study, I have spent more hours socializing than school work and it didn’t sit well with me. I would like to have spent a little more time on school work and have a parallel amount of social time.  I am so glad we had a discussion on Tuesday in Inquiry about this because a lot of others in the class felt the same way and I was reassured by the professor that college is essentially about the education. My priorities were set straight after this class as I began to open my eyes to how much money is being spent on my education and how I’ve worked so hard to get where I am.  

As a whole, I feel I do not procrastinate a lot, although I do find myself procrastinating when presented with larger assignments that may not be due for a longer period of time. It is now spelled out for me how many hours there actually are in a day and knowing this, I can pick apart these more project-based assignments and find time each week to complete a portion, so that I do not find myself cramming. From this assignment, I can conclude that I am good at managing my time so far, and am receiving the grades I want based on how much time is put into my work, but there is always room for improvement. Starting next week, I will definitely be devoting more time to school work and might also try setting actual time frames so that I do not lose sight of this. If mapping out my week between coursework, free time, and allowing time to process and analyze the information works, I will definitely carry it out for the rest of the semester to create a nice balance. I am confident this will work in that it is mentioned in the “How to Become a Deeper Thinker at College” article a few weeks back.

As long as my grades and progress in learning keep boosting my confidence to push harder, I will keep up my time management strategies, with a few changes of course. Balancing all of these responsibilities can be overwhelming as we have always had them laid out for us, but I feel as though I am really doing a swell job. There are so many hours in each day and we don’t even realize it, but it now lies in our hands to exercise the lessons we have learned from our time study, and use them to better ourselves. 

Can an organized schedule help you maximize productivity? Are you making the most out of each day? Are you satisfied on the results of your hard work?